Here in New Zealand, we've spent the last few weeks working out way through levels 3 and 2 and, with each move, we've had a little bit more freedom allowing us to walk further away from home. We obviously wanted to carry on doing our bit to keep Covid-19 at bay so we didn't go too mad, but we did drive a little bit to remind ourselves what the outdoors actually looked like and I thought I'd write a little bit about it here to remind everyone else.
Duder Regional Park.
This is a pretty nice park on the Whakakiawhara Peninsula with paths that take you by the coast, through a working farm, and along to the Whakakaiwhara Pa located right the very end of the peninsula. There are actually remains of houses and pits at this Pa, but you can't see these when you're standing on the site, though there are really obvious terraces found in most Pas.
We were lucky to have a really beautiful, sunny day (a little bit strange for the fact it was actually autumn) with just the right amount of cool wind to make walking actually enjoyable. We also took a picnic to eat by the water's edge knowing that we would have no trouble in keeping a good distance from anyone else there and enjoyed watching the birds and little fish swimming in shoals along the water's edge.
I'm not necessarily a big fan of walking through farmland as they tend to be quite samey, but the undulation of the land was pretty unique here and the views were beautiful, including a good view of the Hanua Ranges.
Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill and Cornwall Park.
Based in the centre of Auckland, this gives you a really good view of the city - if you like that sort of thing. The paths that head around the park are lovely gentle walks surrounded by a lot of oak trees. One Tree Hill itself is actually the peak of a volcano, so the walk up there is a little steeper, but still pretty doable for just a casual walk. Interestingly the hill did use to be a Pa, but it was left in the 1700s and all that remains, visually, are the terraces you can see at every angle.
The tree which gave One Tree Hill its European name (and possibly the Maori name as Maungakiekie translates as 'mountain of the kiekie vine') was cut down by one of the white settlers (it isn't sure if it was vandalism or just for firewood) and the remaining tree of those Sir John Logan Campbell (Major of Auckland in the late 1800s) tried to grow on top of the hill was attacked by Maori activists to highlight the treatment of Maori people by the New Zealand Government. Both are a real same, purely because the trees are lovely living things, but a few years ago the Tupuna Maunga Authority held a ceremony which included the planting of young totara and pohutukawa trees (grown from parent trees on the hill) and later a kiekie tree.
There's also a memorial obelisk to the Maori at the top and beneath this the grave of Sir John Campbell, who gave a substantial sum of money to the building of this memorial in the belief that the Maori would soon die out. Not surprisingly this has led to some objections to it being called a memorial and suggestions that it should instead be called a centennial tower to mark the signing of the Waitangi Treaty. There's also some really cringy writing on the memorial which talks about the Maori signing the Waitangi Treaty and that they were basically happy to accept the sovereignty of the Queen and all that entailed, completely ignoring all the issues like the mistranslation of the treaty into Maori and the treatment of them after the signing. Just as well the views are pleasant from that spot.
As before, the weather was really good for autumn and, probably because of the location, the fact it was a Sunday afternoon, and the fact that it was the first weekend in level 2, there were quite a few people there enjoying being outside again.
Hunua Ranges Regional Park.
Found to the south-east of Auckland, this range is quite a large area of native forest. There are quite a few walks that you can do, but we stuck to the Cossey-Massey Loop and then the Hunua Falls Loop. They're not particularly long walks, we basically took an afternoon to do both, but we did get a really good workout as the Cossey-Massey Loop takes you up quite a steep track before it flattens out into a high loop before dipping down to the Cossey dam and back round.
As with most native forests in New Zealand, the vegetation is quite dense so you don't really get much of a view of the surrounding area. This is more about experiencing a walk through the woods and the wildlife that's there. The only problem here was, there didn't seem to be much wildlife when we were here. We heard a few calls and got to see a fantail up very, very close, but mostly there was a very eerie silence as we walked around.
The Hunua Falls Loop was a very easy walk and the one that most people do. We decided to add a bit of excitement to our day (sarcasm) by crossing over the water at the falls to meet up with the path that takes you directly back to the car park. The falls might be small, but they were still beautiful and it would be a really nice place to have a picnic before carrying having an afternoon walk. Perhaps something to do in the future.
The weather was a little bit cooler when we did this walk and much drier then it should have been, but the air was still pretty heavy within the forest, so we ended up getting quite warm despite the coolness.
Kariotahi Beach.
There's not really a whole lot to say about this one, you literally just walk up and down the beach. However, it was so beautiful that I just wanted to add it in. These are located to the south-west of Auckland and were probably the further we drove to go somewhere to walk, about a 45-minute drive.
It was really interesting seeing the black sand sandwiched between the ocean and what looks like sand cliffs on the land side. There's usually quite a lot of activities that can be done here, including driving your car on it, but when we went it was pretty empty with only a few people here and there. To me, that made spending time here all the more special.
It was quite a bit colder on this walk than others as the wind was blowing off the ocean, but the clear blue skies were amazing and really added to the views of the beach.
As things begin to open up more and more in New Zealand we're hoping to get much more further afield in our walking outings, including some walks in the South Island, before I need to head back to the UK. However, these were lovely little walks that kept us going and sane whilst still mostly being stuck indoors during this pandemic. The weather has really held out for us here and, I have to admit, I've really appreciated it and how it's made these walks all the more enjoyable.
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